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The first step toward greatness is to be honest, says the proverb but the proverb fails to state the case strong enough. Honesty is not only the first step toward greatness, - it is greatness itself.

Christian Nestell Bovee

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Christian Nestell Bovee
Age: 83 †
Born: 1820
Born: February 22
Died: 1904
Died: January 18
Poet
New York City
New York
bovee
C. N. Bovee
First
Steps
Proverb
Enough
Cases
Fails
Says
Honesty
Honest
Greatness
State
Case
Strong
Step
States
Toward
Firsts
Failing

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We repose too much upon the actual, when we should be seeking to develop the possibilities of our being. It is true of nearly all of us, that what we have done is little compared with what we might have accomplished, or may hereafter effect.
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To vindicate the sanctity of human life by taking it is an outrage upon reason. The spectacle of a human being dangling at the end of a gallows-rope is a degradation of humanity.
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Tears are nature's lotion for the eyes. The eyes see better for being washed by them.
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It is of very little use in trying to be dignified, if dignity is no part of your character.
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A great destiny needs a generous diet.... What can be expected of a people that live on macaroni!
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Contentment is not happiness. An oyster may be contented. Happiness is compounded of richer elements.
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Formerly when great fortunes were only made in war, war was a business but now, when great fortunes are only made by business, business is war.
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Whether one talks well depends very much upon whom he has to talk to.
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To be without sympathy is to be alone in the world--without friends or country, home or kindred.
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Life is indeed either a rich possession or a poor, according as it is made subservient to noble aims or ignoble pleasures.
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There is nothing, says a correspondent of the New York Times, which the business world discards as unpractical and useless so much as the quiet, thinking scholar. But this is the man who makes revolutions. Politicians are mere puppets in the hands of men of thought.
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The beauty seen is partly in him who sees it. [a predisposition to notice the beautiful, in everything.]
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The very cunning conceal their cunning the indifferently shrewd boast of it.
Christian Nestell Bovee
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If it is a distinction to have written a good book, it is also a disgrace to have written a bad one.
Christian Nestell Bovee
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The highest excellence is seldom attained in more than one vocation. The roads leading to distinction in separate pursuits diverge, and the nearer we approach the one, the farther we recede from the other.
Christian Nestell Bovee
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Dreamers are half-way men of thought, and men of thought are half-way men of action.
Christian Nestell Bovee
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New situations inspire new thoughts. Here is the benefit of travelling, much more than in mere sight-seeing. We lose ourselves in the streets of our own city, and go abroad to find ourselves.
Christian Nestell Bovee
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Dignity of position adds to dignity of character, as well as to dignity of carriage. Give us a proud position, and we are impelled to act up to it.
Christian Nestell Bovee
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The heart contracts as the pocket expands.
Christian Nestell Bovee
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In general, inquiry ceases when we adopt a theory. After that, we overlook whatever makes against it, and see and think, and talk and write, only in its favor. Indeed, when we have a snug, comfortable theory, to which we are much attached, they appear to us as a very mean set of facts that will not square with it.
Christian Nestell Bovee